Major Events
- 1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock
- 1685 French King Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes cancelling rights of French Protestants
- 1867 Alaska Purchase: US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, having paid $7.2 million
- 1962 James Watson (US), Francis Crick (UK) and Maurice Wilkins (UK) win the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their work in determining the structure of DNA [1]
- More October 18 Events
Oct 18 in Film & TV
- 1922 British Broadcasting Company (BBC) founded, later called British Broadcasting Corporation
Oct 18 in Music
- 1946 Aaron Copland's 3rd Symphony first performance, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra led by Serge Koussevitzky
Oct 18 in Sport
- 1968 US Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving the Black Power salute to protest racism and injustice against African-Americans during Olympic medal ceremony
Did You Know?
In a bar decorated with bird tail in Elmsford, New York, a customer requests a glassful of “those cock tails” from bartender Betsy Flanagan
Sidney Holland
Félix Houphouët-Boigny
Pierre Trudeau
Lee Harvey Oswald
Wendy Wasserstein
Mongkut
George C. Scott
Peter Boyle
Dawn Wells
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Chuck Berry
Mike Ditka
Martina Navratilova
Thomas Hearns
Lindsey Vonn
Fun Fact About October 18
Count Bernard von Bulow becomes Chancellor of Germany, famous for first referring to Germany's need for 'place in the sun' and global empire
Famous Weddings
- 1869 Sardinia king Victor Emmanuel II (49) weds his mistress Rosa Vercellana (36) in Italy
- 1926 Communist revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh (36) weds midwife Zeng Xueming (21) in Guangzhou
- 1952 Latin actress Maria Felix (38) weds actor and singer Jorge Negreta (40) in Mexico
Famous Divorces
- 2000 Actress Demi Moore (37) divorces actor Bruce Willis (45) due to irreconcilable differences after 13 years of marriage
More October 18 Weddings
Henry John Temple
Charles Babbage
Thomas Edison
Charles Strite
Andreas Baader
Colin PowellArticles, Photos and Quiz
Women And Politics: The Passions of Palmerston
Queen Victoria had an intense dislike for her Prime Minister Lord Palmerston. But other women took a quite different view of the man dubbed ‘Lord Cupid’.
October 18, 1865
Alaska Purchase
The check used by the United States to purchase Alaska from Russia
October 18, 1867
